Golden Sun: Homelands
by NemesisNecrosis
Summary: The Eclipse is over, but the trials of the Second Generation have just begun. Felix and Sheba have raised their children in the remote northern village of Prox, keeping themselves apart from the rest of the awakening world. It was hoped that they would be safe there, but the appearance of Jenna, Felix's younger sister, promises to change things, maybe even for the better...
1. Prologue: Estranged Relatives

**Prologue: Estranged Relatives**

_It is well known what became of most of the esteemed, and shunned, Warriors of the Vale. Isaac and Garet watch the sunken Mount Aleph, guarding the halls of Sol Sanctum, lost, though they may be, beneath the ground, from any outsiders. Piers of Lemuria became a famed sea captain, Mia returned to Imil, becoming a renowned healer, and Ivan studied the arts of the scholar with the help of Alchemist Kraden. Jenna, after leaving their son Matthew with Isaac on the Goma Plateau, left for the town of Kalay to help Vale's refugees. But what of the lost Heroes? What of Felix, so-called Vale's Betrayer, and Sheba, the child who fell from the sky?_

_Thirty years ago, shunned by the elders of the Vale, who saw only the man who betrayed their ancient duty to guard the world against the reemergence of Alchemy, Felix fled Vale, leaving his sister and parents behind once more. He returned to the frozen wastes of the Proxian north, and found a home there among the Northern Fire Clan, where he was joined a few years later by fellow Warrior Sheba._

_Hidden away from the rest of the world, the two lost Vale Warriors live a secluded life, training their son and two daughters in their respective Psynergies._

_But the Eclipse reached even that far north, and the awakening of this ancient, forbidden Alchemy awakened in the Warriors' children a curiosity about the state of the outside world._

_And with the sudden appearance of their estranged aunt, Jenna, the spirit of adventure works its way in the minds of the three young Adepts..._

* * *

Jason stood atop his newly built snow fort, glaring across no-man's-land at his the offending Earth Adept. There she stood, smug as nobody's business, having just broken the cardinal rule of the snowball fight.

A voice sounded from across the field, "Hey! No Psynergy allowed, Tela!"

Jason turned to see a shock of flame red flash past his face. He sputtered, spitting strands of his other sister's hair out of his mouth, then turned to watch the twins going at each other.

"But Hela, Jason started it, I saw him cooling his snowballs down with his wind Psynergy!"

The Fire Adept turned to the youngest sibling curiously, "did you?"

The look in his eye challenged her, "yeah, but it's not like I built a whole fort out of a slab of rock, now did I?"

Tela glowered at him, "still means you started it."

"Does not."

"Does too!"

"Does no-"

His response was cut off by a quick look from the older twin, "when did you guys age down into three-year-olds?" She asked, her irritation evident in her voice.

That shut the two up for a moment.

Jason was just about to break the silence when he noticed a figure coming up the road from the south.

"Hey, who's that, you think?" He wondered aloud to the others, who turned to look where he was pointing.

Hela shrugged, "beats me, I thought everyone was inside the walls, preparing for the equinox feast."

They watched in silence as the figure neared, revealing over time a young woman, not much older than them, with deep red hair and a staff strapped across her back. She kept her face down turned as she approached the gates, which the three of them had unconsciously gravitated towards upon noticing her. Once she was about ten feet from them, Hela called out to her,

"Halt! State your business here, traveller. What brings you so far north, and so close to winter?"

Jason thought she was perhaps trying a bit too hard to sound official, but he didn't say anything, waiting curiously to hear the stranger's answer.

She had stopped as soon as the oldest twin had spoken, but seemed to be taking her time with her answer. When she did open her mouth to speak, she raised her face to look at each of them in turn, and whatever she had planned on saying left her. Jason blinked, seeing the stranger's face, and turned to look at his sister; Hela looked confused, touching her face as though to ensure that she was indeed still herself. The stranger was a spitting image of the older girl, in fact they might have been twins, or triplets, Jason supposed, had it not been for the other's darker hair and the look of age that only lived inside her eyes.

That look was quite a bit like what he had seen in their parents' eyes from time to time...

Suddenly, it hit him like the load of rocks Tela had dropped on him last week. He stepped forward,

"You're our aunt, aren't you? Jenna, wasn't it? Father talks about you, sometimes, though less so than mother." He was almost certain he was right. There was no way someone completely unrelated to them could look that much like Hela.

The woman nodded, "yes, I suppose. That is, assuming your father is Felix. I'm not certain about your mother, though."

Tela poked her head out from between the two of them; it was funny how, even though she was the middle sibling, she acted more like she was the youngest. She looked Jenna in the eye and tilted her head to the side, "but she talked about you all the time, or whenever the 'Warriors of the Vale' stories came up."

Jenna shrugged, "well, we'll see," she said. She nodded towards the gate, "may I come in?" She asked.

Hela looked up, as though startled, "oh, yes, certainly, let's go in."

With that, the three siblings turned towards home, leading their estranged aunt into Prox.


	2. Chapter 1: Reunion

**Author's Notes: **

**My chapters are going to start out pretty short, at least to start off. I'm pretty inexperienced at writing for an audience, though I've written plenty of poetry and stories before. Review, please, I want to know what I need to work on! I think this chapter might be a little heavy on dialogue, myself, but I'm not sure. Anyway, enjoy, I should have another chapter up within a week, probably within a couple days.**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Reunion**

Felix sat in the front room of his and Sheba's home, humming a tune beneath his breath while he sharpened his blade. It had been a busy week, a busy month, in fact, and with all the harvesting and cooking and setting up, this was the first opportunity he'd had to tend to his weapons almost since the Eclipse had ended.

The first snowfall of the year had been less than a fortnight earlier, and as he could clearly hear through even the well insulated walls of the Proxian home, the children of the village were ecstatic. Felix was reminded of the way he had felt, his first winter in Prox...

He shook his head; there was no point thinking on such things. It would only bring back unhappy memories, of Saturos, of Alex, of Jenna, of his parents...

Sighing, Felix set his whetstone in its case and stood up, sheathing his blade in the scabbard hanging from a hook next to the door. He turned to go into the main room of the house, but halted at the sound of his son's voice outside the door. The Earth Adept smiled; Jason was shaping up into an excellent young man, and a fair fighter, as well. He might not be a match for his oldest sister yet, but Hela was an exceptional girl, and she also had a couple years on him. Give him time, and Jason would be a truly powerful Jupiter Adept, just like his mother before him.

A smile on his face, Felix opened the door for his children. There in the front, Jason spoke with Hela about something to do with the usually frozen river to the south of Prox. Behind them, Tela and Hela were keeping up a hushed conversation, casting furtive glances at the other two every other second.

It took Felix a moment to realize what was wrong with this picture. He frowned at first, and then, as the four, count them, _four_, people in front of him broke off their conversations, his eyes widened.

A voice he had not heard in thirty years rang out across his small front yard,

"Hello, Felix." His sister said, a cool edge to her words, "been a while."

* * *

The silence stretched in the small room. The air, which should have been warm due to the crackling fire which was a centerpiece of every Proxian home, was frigid with the cold look the older Fire Adept continued to send towards her brother.

Jason sighed; _you'd think, after thirty years, she might be a bit happier to see him, _he thought. His father looked about as happy to see Jenna as a rat might to see a cat. _Which is a fitting metaphor, I guess, _he thought, and then had to fight to suppress nervous giggles.

Beside him, Tela shifted uncomfortably. Jason could tell she wanted to leave, but was afraid that their father would snap at them if any of them moved to get up. He was right there with her. Hela, on the other hand, looked like if someone didn't start talking soon, she was going to start the conversation for them. Typical.

The longer they waited, the worse it was going to be. Finally, Jason had enough. He cleared his throat, "dad, can we go help the others with the feast?" He asked, tentatively.

The older Earth Adept frowned, and Jason was afraid he might have annoyed him, but Father nodded, "go ahead, I'm sure they could use some-"

Jenna cut him off, "Felix, no, they need to hear the news I bring, too."

Father glanced, irritated, at the Fire Adept, "fine, what message do you have for us?" He asked after a moment.

The woman almost smiled, then pulled a rolled up paper out of her bag, "this is from Isaac," she told them. She left it rolled, and stood to pass it to her brother, who opened it to reveal a map of Atteka Continent, before settling back against her chair. Jason figured she must be pretty tired from all that time spent on the road. He wondered how she'd even gotten here; did she have a ship? She must, to have navigated the ocean from the southern continents to here.

His attention returned to the present situation as his father spoke,

"What's the point of this, then?" He asked.

"Well, to start," she began, "as I'm sure you noticed, someone's enthusiasm for reawakening the old Alchemy machines got a bit out of hand." She nodded towards the south, "The Grave Eclipse, as it was called, destroyed much of the new prosperity in the south, though those who had been living in ancient cities, like Ayuthay and Belinsk were mostly fine. They are rebuilding, though, and it shouldn't be too long before things are back to normal." She smiled, "the Eclipse itself was dealt with by mine and Isaac's son, Matthew, along with Garet's son, Tyrell, Mia's son, Reif, Ivan's daughter, Karis, and several friends of theirs, several of whose parents we knew back in the day, actually. You remember Briggs' son, Eoleo? And Kushinada and Susa? Their daughter and that little rascal were among the group, as well." She paused, "that's beside the point, though, the Eclipse isn't the reason I'm here. The real reason is the Psynergy Vortexes."

As she continued, Jenna looked more and more worried, "Isaac fears the Mourning Moon is returning," she said.

Father sucked in a breath, then let it out after a moment. He frowned, "and so what is the point of coming here?" He asked, "I can't do much to help with that, I know less about the Vortexes than most do, since Prox has yet to be victim to even one." He shook his head, then nodded towards the map in his hand, "in fact, the last one I remember seeing was in Contigo, twenty years ago."

Jenna nodded, "yes, well, to be honest, Contigo's part of what this is about," she looked at Jason and his sisters, "Felix, who's their mother?"

Father looked away, a small frown coming to his face, "you knew her pretty well," he said, "I'm surprised you don't see her looks in Tela's face, or in Jason's hair," he said.

Jenna nodded, "Sheba, so I thought, and hoped, especially after talking with you three," she said, leaning forwards and nodding towards Jason.

Jason raised his hand (it seemed like the proper thing to do at the time). Tela snickered at this, but it got father's attention, and the older man turned to his son and raised one eyebrow.

Jason looked at Jenna, "so the Mourning Moon is rising again," he said, "and you needed our mother for what, exactly?"

"And why did we need to be here?" Tela put in.

Jenna leaned back once more, "well, I need your mother because we think she might be able to help us locate a certain lost civilization," she said. Then she addressed the younger girl, "and would you rather I had left you out of the loop?" She asked her. Tela shook her head.

At this point, Father cut in, "I'm guessing Anemos? It's on the map, here, I see." He frowned, "Why do you need to find Anemos? If you need the knowledge of an older civilization so badly, couldn't you just go to Lemuria and speak with Hydros?"

Jenna nodded, "and that's where the children come in," she said. "We need to be in too many places at once. I've contacted Piers, he is willing to go to Lemuria to speak with Hydros, even though he was exiled. But he needs you, because you're the only one who could really figure out the currents in the Sea of Time." She looked at the three young Adepts, "meanwhile, Sheba and I will look for Anemos."

Jason looked down as he heard his father choke on a breath, "there's a slight problem with that plan," he said, "namely that Sheba disappeared at the start of the Eclipse."

Jenna blinked, "disappeared? You don't mean those creatures-"

"No," father cut her off, " she was right in front of me when it happened. One moment she was watching the sky in horror, with the rest of us, the next-" he shook his head, "nothing. She was just... gone."

Jenna frowned, "that's... odd." She said. She was silent for a moment, then turned to look at the three children, "well, do any of your children follow after their mother in element?" She asked.

Jason nodded, "I'm a Jupiter Adept, Tela is a Venus Adept, and Hela is a Mars Adept," he said, pointing to each girl in turn.

Jenna smiled, "that's all we need, then," she said. She stood, "Jason will just have to come with me, instead."

Father stood as well, a scowl on his face, "absolutely not!" He snarled, "Jason is only sixteen! I won't have him gallivanting about Weyard on some mad mission like we did when we were kids!"

Jenna took a step back, "Felix, I need someone with the blood of Anemos in order to find the city," she said.

"Well, why not Ivan, or his daughter, what was her name, Kara."

"Karis, and they won't do, their blood is far too diluted. Only Sheba or Jason would do, and you know it."

The older man ran a hand through his hair, and looked over at his son. He seemed to be struggling with something, but eventually he stood straight and nodded, "give me some time to think on it," he said to the redhead. "Let's go to the Equinox Feast, we'll talk more after we've eaten."

For a moment it seemed Jenna was going to refuse, but then the moment passed, and she nodded, "alright," she told him.

Jason, Hela and Tela stayed seated for several moments after the adults had gone out. Tela spoke first,

"Are we going to sit here all night, or can I go eat?"

Jason poked her in the side, "were you even paying attention to all that?" He asked.

She shrugged, "sort of. It doesn't matter much, I know you'll tell me everything I really needed to know."

Jason hit his forehead with the palm of his hand, "are you sure you're older than me?" He asked, mostly rhetorically.

Tela frowned, "no, not really," she said, "I'm hungry, see you two there!" With that, the middle girl left, humming off-tune as she went.

Hela, who had been silent throughout, stood up abruptly, "come on, Jason, let's go."

Jason nodded, and the two siblings trailed out the door after the rest of their odd family.


	3. Chapter 2: Decisions

**Chapter 2: Decisions **

The Hall of Mars, located in the base of the Lighthouse just outside Prox, was crowded with people. Felix glanced around the room at the other villagers, who even after all this time still seemed a little odd to him. Certainly he had seen people with brightly coloured hair before, but until he had met Saturos and Menardi all those years ago, he had never even _heard _of someone with brightly coloured _skin._

Before the Golden Sun Event Prox had been a village of warriors and traders. The land was far too cold to farm on, and herds were only barely sustainable, especially in the later years, as the void drew closer and closer to the village. After Mars Lighthouse had been lit thirty years ago the Proxians had made a move towards the warming lands around it, hoping to grow their own food and keep warmer throughout the year. Of course, they knew next to nothing about farming, and so it had taken the arrival of Felix to really get them started.

The Earth Adept looked around the hall with a satisfied glint in his eye. It had taken almost thirty years, but these people who had once been starving in the cold had shaped up into better farmers than the ones back home, at least in his opinion. The feast was laid out on a central table, a true harvest meal, and the Proxians hadn't held back. The Fire Clan had a taste for spices, imported from southern Angara, which Felix could smell from all the way across the room.

A group of young minstrels, visiting from the continent of Angara to the south, played music from across Weyard, to the delight of children and adults alike. Most people were at their tables by now, though, working their way through the varied foods laid out in the centre.

Felix started as a sound rumbled up through his stomach, _perhaps I ought to join them, _he thought, and began working his way towards the table set aside for his family. He looked over at his sister, and a cloud passed over his mind; he did not like leaving things out about Sheba, but if Jenna knew where Sheba had gone...

He sighed as he sat down, thinking back to that day...

* * *

It had been just plain bad luck, and the whims of one overly excitable Earth Adept-in-training, that led them to be in range of the Eclipse on Summer Solstice.

Tela had gone off to the river on her own, presumably to practice separating out earth from mud, which was a skill Felix had mentioned earlier that day. Sheba had been feeling off all day, and finally had asked her husband to come with her to get their middle child. He'd gotten used to listening to her premonitions, since they were often right, and so off they had gone.

All had seemed well as they'd approached the bank, Tela even seemed to be making progress with the mud. Smiling at this, he'd turned to Sheba to find her looking south with an expression of horror.

It all seemed to happen in the space of a few seconds; one moment his wife stood beside him, the next she was pelting down the bank of the river towards their daughter, screaming at her to run. Tela looked up then and, seeing Sheba's look, turned towards the south as well. Looking up, Felix saw a great darkness making its way north, past the southern glacial mountains. At this point, he started running, too, his sword bared in his hand.

Then the darkness was upon them, and shapes seemed to form out of the cracks in the earth, monsters of hideous form blocking him from his family. As he cut his way through them, a difficult task for most, but nothing for a man as desperate and experienced as he, his mind registered flashes of lightning coming from the area where Tela had been. When he finally won through, it was to see a great fall of stone collapsing atop a truly gigantic fenrir. He caught Tela as she fell, exhausted from using all of her Psynergy, and turned, calling his wife's name.

The Wind Adept was staring up at the sky, her eyes wide. Felix turned his head up to see what had caught her eye, but it took a moment for his mind to register what he saw. It seemed to be a great, upside-down mountain floating in midair, tipped with a flashing purple light.

He took only a single step towards her when Sheba was encircled by a great cylinder of clouds which met the tip of the mountain above. A blast of air threw him back, causing him to collide with the rocky mound where the fenrir had fallen. Pressed up against the stones, he watched with horror through the swirling air as Sheba was lifted from the ground, shot up through the cloud tunnel and out of sight.

* * *

Afterwards, it occurred to him that the mountain was the exact size and shape of the crater which lay outside Contigo. The meaning of this was obvious to him, but he knew that he was needed in Prox, to help fight off the encroaching monsters, and especially to protect his children. And at any rate, Sheba would be safer among her own people than she would under the shadow of the Eclipse.

"You look like you could use something to drink," a voice penetrated his thoughts, bringing him back to the crowded hall. He blinked, registering a pale blue blur in front of his eyes and, turning, saw the similarly shaded face of Dantos, Hela's Psynergy master. The old man smiled kindly and handed Felix a full goblet, "don't drink it too fast," he said, "you know how strong our liquor is."

Felix smiled in return, "thank you, Dantos," he said, taking a sip of the icewater. He swallowed, and then shivered as the freezing liquid settled in his stomach. Dantos sat next to him and nodded to the woman seated across the table, "ah... Jenna, was it not? It's been a while."

The younger Fire Adept started, then nodded, "I'm surprised you remember me," she said, "thirty years is a long time."

Felix chuckled under his breath, "Dantos has a remarkable memory," he told his sister, "he's generally considered Prox's most learned man."

Jenna considered this for a moment before speaking, "would you happen to know anything about Anemos?" She asked.

Dantos frowned, "no, not particularly. I know quite a bit about the civilization that once existed in this area, though not as much as I would like to know. But my knowledge of the southern lands is rather paltry."

Jenna perked up at this, "there was an ancient civilization here?" She asked, interest glowing in her eyes.

Felix nodded, "didn't you notice the ruins on the road in?"

"No, I came straight from the river to the south."

Dantos cut in, "well, after this Lighthouse was lit, the tundra for miles around started melting," he said, "eventually some really extensive ruins were revealed. Of course, we haven't explored much of them, but they ring around the lighthouse about six miles out, and then there's a smaller ring right around it. That's where we're living right now, by the way."

Felix leaned back, leaving them to it; he didn't know all that much about the ruins, having stayed out of the studies into them as much as possible. He figured he'd had enough of the Ancients.

* * *

The food was excellent, and the music even better, but eventually people started getting sleepy, and the dragon statues seemed to get impatient. When he was younger, Jason had liked to imagine that after everyone left the hall, the dragons uncurled themselves from their perches and roamed the lighthouse freely. For all anyone knew, actually, they might do just that. The strange statues certainly seemed alive enough.

Hela had to carry their sister out of the hall, since Tela had gone to sleep about halfway through the third course, after stuffing herself so full Jason was surprised she hadn't thrown up. Jason trailed along behind her, admiring the glint of mage-light on the ruby eyes of the dragon statues. As he walked through the entrance hall, he heard whispers coming from above, and he quickly hid beneath one of the giant dragon heads.

"-but you must realise that something is happening, something _big!_" Jenna's voice echoed to his ears, and Jason quieted his breathing, hoping to hear better.

"Even more reason not to involve my children!" Father said, "I will not endanger them, Jenna. Especially not Jason, he's just too young for this-"

"Oh, come on, Felix, you know that's silly," Jenna said scornfully, "Ivan was only 15 when he joined Isaac. Sheba was _14_ when she joined us! Jason is plenty old enough to make his own decisions." She stopped for a second, looking around, Jason thought, "and besides, there's even more on the line than we thought at first."

Father frowned, "how so?"

The Fire Adept lowered her voice, "Felix, Alex is alive."

Not a word was spoken for a few moments, then there was the sound of a fist hitting stone, and Jason peeked out to see his father leaning face-first against the wall.

"That's not possible," the words seemed to have been dragged out of the man's chest, "Alex died, he was pulled into the earth with mount Aleph..."

Jenna shook her head, "Kraden has seen him. So has Matthew, and the others who traveled with them."

A few more moments of silence, then, "what does he want? Does anyone know? He caused the eclipse, didn't he?"

Jenna nodded, "yes, he tricked Matthew's group into triggering the Alchemy Dynamo in Belinsk, which caused the Grave Eclipse. As for what he wants..." she shrugged, "when has anyone been able to discover what Alex wants?" She asked.

At this point, the two adults began walking towards Jason's hiding place. He pulled back under the dragon's head, and hoped neither looked more closely at it, as they would surely see him.

They paused right in front of the statue, then continued on, "Alright, Jenna," his father said, "I won't stop him from going, _so long as _his sisters go with you. Hela is a powerful Fire Adept, and Tela, while she might not look like much, is as good an Earth Adept as I was at her age."

"That's fine with me," Jenna said, "but why? Surely he can take care of himself."

"Better safe than sorry," the man said, "after all, he is the youngest, and he has had no one to train him since..." he trailed off.

Jason peeked out again in time to see Jenna pat her brother on the back, "alright, I get it," she said.

He nodded, and they left the lighthouse together.

A few moments later, Jason followed them out, his excitement building as he headed towards home.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Putting this at the bottom, now! **

**So I had a lot of classwork to do, so it took me a little longer than I thought it would. Thanks for the review, and yes, I am a Lighthouseshipper. I am planning on bringing Matthew and the other Second Genners in at some point, so I guess you'll have to wait and see what pairings I ship for them! Thanks again, hope you keep reading and reviewing!**

**Also, there's a reason this fic is rated T, but it probably won't really feel T-rated for a while. Events have yet to happen, so it'll probably be a couple chapters before it really gets rolling.**

**AN|2: Just finished my exams (woo, finally done High School!), so I should be able to get cracking on the next few chapters, now! Sorry it's taking so long, but I'm also moving to a new house, so it's been difficult to get anything done. Expect the next chapter in the next week, and I'll see if I can't make it way longer than these three, just as a treat, and to make up for my leave of absence. **


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